I re-watched this for the first time in years recently and there was one scene I didn't understand. When the band realise that he's the "shrink-wrap killer" they decide to get the reward but then give him to an asian man who then takes him to a resturant where he wants to talk to a woman who thinks Bubby is making fun of her. Basically how did he end up with this man, who is the man and did the band get a reward for this?
shareNot that many scenes really make a lot of sense but for this I think they realise he's basically 'simple' and try to change his image.
The scene I really DONT get, no matter how many times I watch, is the one with the bagpipers in the prison.
Still, this IS my favorite film of all time. Nuff said.
Best bit is holding up a service station witha dead cat - superb!
HEY i VE REWATCHED THIS FILM FOR ABOUT THE 6TH TIME TODAY. i SEE IT ON THE BIG SCREEN AT THE IFI IN DUBLIN AS PART OF AN AUS FILM FEST. HAVING WATCHED IT AGAIN I WAS REMINDED EXACTLY HOW GOOD IT IS. SO TO TRY AND ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.
The asian man is a friend of the band. he is obviuosly wealthy so can look after him better than they can. he later reappears towards th eend of the film at the "big" concert. The band don't turn him in for the reward. They have become friends with him and realise he is an ok bloke. also his appearance has lifted them up from where they were to a now cult status. The first gig they play no one appaears, and the last with bubby fronted the band is packed.
I hope that sorts that out.
good luck
My first inclination was definately to say that the Asian man was a homosexual. In all the scenes where Bubby does not have sex, he goes to sleep in his clothes, but when the man comes to give Bubby clothes, he is wearing only a towel and Bubby is completely naked. At this point in the movie, Bubby hasn't performed with the band, so that motive is out of the question. I think they did it because they realized that they wanted to keep the money he brought and that he really didn't have ill intentions, but just needed serious help. The gay Asian (as I will refer to him) had plenty of money apparently and they most likely figured nobody would look for the "Cling wrap killer" there.
shareThe guy is named Dan, and he is not Asian at all, I think he is more like a rich artist. At first I suspected that they had sex. But since at later part they tried to show the prison rape of The Animal as shocking, and from his expression I believe that is his first anal sex. Dan simply examined his outfits, so I believe he only cleaned him and let him sleep on the floor, since if they had sex, Bubby would have wake up on Dan's bed instead of mattress on the floor.
Later, Dan also encourages Bubby to go talk to a woman in the restaurant, if Dan is gay I doubt he will be so kind and encouraging. Dan also has an asian female companion during the restaurant scene.
...a little fantastic, and fleeting, and out of reach.
I recently watched the DVD and in the extras section there are stills of scenes where Bubby is in a bath, being washed by the Asian guy and stuff like that. I think this homosexual exploration was probably dropped on the cutting room floor with only the restaurant scene left in to allow Bubby to be carted off to jail. And the woman he offends is Angel - we see her in the copy shop also when Bubby is staring through the window.
shareCan you imagine being in prison: depressed, sore a-hole, weirdos all round and then some nut starts up on the loudest hand held instrument about? They do it to pi$$ people off.
Incidentaly, I'm a Scot and therefore would have started dancing in that scene. Ah the pipes, ah the bonnie glens, ach a wee dram o' the watter o' life. Brilliant.
I dunno if it would p*** me off to hear bagpipes going through the jail if I was in there, but if any druggies where in there tripping on something they would be freaking right out of there mind wondering what the ear peircing sound is and then to see a bunch of buch men marching by in skirts and blowing an octopus in a flannel shirt would be enough to scare them straight and never wanna do drugs again! Good re-hab idea i reckon!
shareNo, he got raped AFTER the bagpipers turned up. He freaked out because he was so excited by hearing music. Then the prison guard moved him to another cell and we know what happened there. I think the prison guard was basically a heartless *beep* Just cos he was on a night shift and he was "lonely" as he said and Bubby wouldn't speak to him, he took revenge. This film is ultimately about human love and cruelty. That's my opinion anyway. It was still very odd that they turned up but if you like cult films you'd probably be unfazed by that. I never tire of the 'amazingness' of this film.
"I have so many objections I don't know where to start"
I didn't really understand that either - I didn't get the homosexual thing, I thought the guy just cleaned him up and clothed him and tried to civillise him to some degree....But isn't the guy Aboriginal?
sharei dont think the dude with the big hair was asian... nor was he gay, he was a artistic hippie type person by the looks of it, he was only trying to help bubby... im glad im not the only one that noticed angel from the begining wen bubby left his mums place right into the end lol..... great chracter development for bubby and angel lol
Look at allll the colours, all the colours.. are yellow..share
Music plays a huge role in the movie as does sound in general. Nickolas Hope had a microphone concealed on each side of his head in his wig. these were used to record the sound so we hear it as Bubby would rather than as an observer.
Bubby has lived in a world of sensory deprivation, each scene exposes him to new sensations, and he stores these up as his life experiences, allowing him to develop his own personality through projecting other people.
Most people recognise him as a benign innocent, some are protective of him, some want to exploit him, some want to nurture him. In life this is never black and white and that's what Buddy has to deal with.
Because he has all those conflicting feelings in his newly developing personality.
Many scenes have a significant soundtrack. Each scene was produced by a different photographic director that had no access to any other scene. I wonder how that worked with the music.
Thanks for all your thoughts, it was a very interesting read. I've ordered the DVD off Amazon so am very much looking forward to watching it again! hopefully it will have the cut scenes too...
shareI think they were trying to give him a makeover and they had hired the man to do it.
It was just a coincidence that the woman was in the same place the man took him.
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The music through the film was a representation of Bubby's journey, the bag pipes were to set his current state of mind in that scene. They were loud and annoying to our ears. To Bubby, he'd never heard anything like that before so it would have freaked him out.
The band decided not to dob Bubby in because he came back with a heap of money, they figured he had done something bad in order to acquire this money, they were right of course. So they didn't want to dob him in, in fear of getting in trouble themselves, the police in this film were not depicted as nice understanding people. They put Bubby in headphones and discussed what they are to do, that's when they decided he was harmless.
I also think the guy at the Art Gallery was homosexual, there was quite a lot of insinuations toward that. Although, i think another scene would have explained that more. I also found the same scene confusing, but after watching the film almost 15 times and studying it as an assignment, I've come to these conclusions =P
Certain shades of the limelight can ruin a girls complexionshare
Firstly, let me preface my post by saying that I have no psych training whatsoever and this is just my "layman's" view. But... It works for me.
I've seen it many, many times and in my eyes, the jail/rape/bagpipe scene shows how Bubby has the ability to withdraw into himself and therefore distance himself from any physical or emotional unpleasantness.
As the attack takes place, his eyes deaden and the pipe music fades and is replaced with the industrial sounds of his home for the first thirty five years of his life. And so, he can withdraw from the present and emerge "Rehabilitated", $10.00 richer and free to walk...
What i wanna know is why didnt the band turn him in and get the reward,he was clearly disturbed and deserved to be caught,they also should have stuck with the other ending and have bubby pay for his crimes,i thought the movie ending was terrible.
I'm running this monkey farm now frankenstein!!!Captain Rhodes
Bubby didn't "deserve" to be caught. You are applying our world's sense of punishment to someone who was never a part of our world until the events of this film. To put it in your terms, he was "disturbed". He couldn't help where he was born and who mothered him, just like all of us, and his "mam" did little to teach him how people behave in the real world.
He did very well considering, caring tenderly for the cats and for the people with cerebal palsy and for Angel. Now his bandmate has explained to him why people shouldn't kill, and some angry women with sharp footwear explained to him why he shouldn't grope strangers, I have my strong suspicions he won't do either again. Call that "rehabilitation" if you will.
If we are to go with your plan, we'd have the guy locked up in a jailcell, quite possibly with the rapist once again, and frankly, that would do him a lot more harm than good.
Here's a possibility:
Maybe we were just tricked into assuming the bandmates were discussing a reward from the police -- when they were actually thinking of the bounty they knew their wealthy chickenhawk acquaintance would pay for a fit but simpleminded fugitive.
And maybe they used those proceeds to buy the fancy equipment and clothes and whores and such that we saw when Bubby encountered them again later as rock stars.
Hell, maybe that's why they welcomed Bubby so eagerly from the moment they met him, knowing they could sell him into homosexual servitude in exchange for a fat roll of seed money. And sure enough, the plan worked out well for everybody.
(Just made that up, but dang, it's actually kinda working for me. . . .)
peace
--Big Gus